The Father Gabriel Richard High School boys bowling team won the Division 3 MHSAA state championship Friday, topping Richmond, Flat Rock and Birch Run in match play at Airport Lanes in Jackson.

To win the title, the school’s first bowling state championship, Gabriel Richard defeated Birch Run 1,349-1,297. It wasn’t an easy win for the Fighting Irish.

“Birch Run was beating us by 30 pins going into the last game,” Gabriel Richard coach Bob Goike said. ”In the seventh frame we caught them. In the eighth we took the lead. In the tenth frame, we had three guys strike out for us to win by that many.”

The Gabriel Richard bowlers had to step up and roll some of their best frames at the end to secure the victory.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Chris Gawne,” Bob Goike said. “He bowled 227, one of his highest games of the year. It was a clean game. Justin Goike threw four strikes in a row in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th to get us back in the lead. My son Mike (Goike) got two marks at the end of the game to make sure that we locked it up.

“They really stepped it up under the pressure at the end. We bowled a last four frames to pass them.”

The Fighting Irish were in first place after the morning's qualifying rounds, which included eight baker games, to qualify for the match-play portion of the tournament.